ARLINGTON, Mass. — Arlington Police are cautioning people against venturing onto ice covered bodies of water after three rescues on the same pond in one day.
Police said all three people were skating on Spy Pond at different times of the day on Sunday when they fell through the ice.
The first incident, involving a 50-year-old Cambridge man, was called in shortly before noon on Sunday.
Arlington Police Officer Mike Hogan rushed to the scene and helped to pull the man on top of the ice.
“You could see the person was treading water holding onto the ice, and two women were laying down flat on the ice with hockey sticks,” explained Officer Hogan.
Hogan used a contraption he made five years ago to rescue the man quickly.
He told Boston 25 News that he tied a weighted rubber ball onto a rope for this specific reason.
He said he’s always kept it in his cruiser expecting that one day he may be called on to assist with an ice rescue.
“I whipped the ball out, and it went with the line. He was able to grab it. I anchored it, and he was able to pull himself out of the water on top of the ice,” he said.
Hogan said another officer showed up and helped him pull the man to the shoreline.
“He was relatively calm the whole time, and I was impressed with that,” said Officer Hogan.
Hogan was relieved to have been able to help, but that wasn’t the last he’d be seeing of Spy Pond Sunday.
“I just cleared the station, and I get dispatched to the same location,” he recalled.
By the time Hogan arrived to that second call, a witness had already used an ice fishing sled to rescue another person who fell in.
Just hours after that, Arlington Police rescued a third person who fell in.
The third victim was transported to Mount Auburn Hospital.
Barricades have since been put up at several of the pond’s entrances to deter people from going onto the ice.
According to experts, the ice should be at least five inches thick to be considered safe for an adult to walk on.
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